The International Space Station’s Canadarm2 is closer to having a new base of operation, giving it access to much of the orbiting laboratory’s Russian segment.

Endeavour Mission Specialists Drew Feustel and Mike Fincke installed a power and data grapple fixture on the Russian Zarya module during a 6-hour, 54-minute spacewalk early Wednesday.

The spacewalkers also installed a video signal converter on Zarya and ran power cables from the U.S. segment to Zarya. That provides a backup for transmission of power from the solar arrays to the Russian segment.

They took photos of some of their handiwork and of Zarya thrusters, and some infrared video of an experiment involving coatings with variable thermal control qualities.

The Wednesday spacewalk ended at 7:37 a.m. CDT, when repressurization of the airlock began. It was the sixth for Feustel and the eighth for Fincke. It was the 247th U.S. spacewalk.

The spacewalk brought the total time spent for station assembly construction and maintenance to 995 hours and 13 minutes during 158 spacewalks. The mission’s fourth spacewalk, Friday morning, is expected to break the 1,000-hour mark. It will also be the last spacewalk by space shuttle crew members. A spacewalk during the program’s final mission, STS-135, is to be conducted by space station residents.